In the last summer refire, I walked you through how you can create a schedule that works for you, your life, and your business. For some, creating a schedule might actually feel pretty fun and exciting, BUT following through on it might be hard, or it might feel boring to have your weeks planned out.

In this episode, I’ll walk you through 8 ways that planning and routines and schedules and structure can make your life more flexible and enjoyable. I'll also talk about *why* many of us can feel like schedules and structure just don’t work for us.

I thought that this topic falls well under the SISU part of the productivity ecosystem, meaning that motivation is a key ingredient in being productive especially when we don’t feel like sticking to plans.

And if you have no idea what I’m talking about when I mention the productivity ecosystem, you can go back a few episodes (to episode 31) to get the basics, or read the blog post:

https://jennahellberg.com/blog/increase-productivity-solo-business-owner

Having structure and routines in place is suuuper helpful in training your brain to learn when to be productive, and when it’s ok to just relax and breathe. If we don’t have clarity on how we want to divide up our time, there’s a risk that we kinda try to work, or think about work stuff all the time, but maybe don’t always spend that time productively – and then we feel like we just have to keep putting off winding down for the day.

So, let’s dive into the summer refire.

Podcast episode mentioned in this episode: https://jennahellberg.com/podcast/005-three-reasons-why-sticking-to-plans-is-hard

**Giveaway**

You can win a one-hour pick-my-brain session with me. You can ask me aaaanything when it comes to your productivity, schedule, work-life balance – anything within the realm of things I usually talk about here on the podcast – and get personalized advice.

There are two ways you can enter the giveaway:

1. Share about the podcast with a friend or on your social media, and either send a screenshot of the share to my email [email protected] or DMs, or share about in IG story and tag me @thejennahellberg so that I can see. (If your account is private I may not see the story; in this case, send a screenshot of it to my DMs)

2. Write a review about Building Balance on Apple podcasts, and send me a screenshot of the review. If you don't have access to Apple podcasts, you could leave me/the podcast a note here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

If you do both, you get two draft spots in the giveaway.

Out of everyone who shares and/or reviews within the month of June 2022, I’ll pick a winner on July 1st and get in touch with them (hopefully you!) by July 5th  to schedule the pick-my-brain session.

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

This first episode of the summer refire is all about how you can create a schedule that fits you, your life, and your business.

This episode would fall under the DESIGN part of my productivity ecosystem, because planning for routines that help you reach your goals is ra key part of designing your business operations in a way that helps you be more productive.

And if you have no idea what I’m talking about when I mention the productivity ecosystem, you can go back a few episodes (to episode 31) to get the basics, or read the blog post:

https://jennahellberg.com/blog/increase-productivity-solo-business-owner

The start of a new season is a great time to reflect on, and maybe adjust, your schedule. For many of us, the season changing means that our time availability, responsibilities, and even energy change. I hope that you enjoy this summer refire, and that even if you’ve listened to it before, you get a nugget from it that you haven’t picked up on before.

*Giveaway information*

You can win a one-hour pick-my-brain session with me. You can ask me aaaanything when it comes to your productivity, schedule, work-life balance – anything within the realm of things I usually talk about here on the podcast – and get personalized advice.

There are two ways you can enter the giveaway:

1. Share about the podcast with a friend or on your social media, and either send a screenshot of the share to my email [email protected] or DMs, or share about in IG story and tag me @thejennahellberg so that I can see. (If your account is private I may not see the story; in this case, send a screenshot of it to my DMs)

2. Write a review about Building Balance on Apple podcasts, and send me a screenshot of the review. If you don't have access to Apple podcasts, you could leave me/the podcast a note here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

If you do both, you get two draft spots in the giveaway.

Out of everyone who shares and/or reviews within the month of June 2022, I’ll pick a winner on July 1st and get in touch with them (hopefully you!) by July 5th  to schedule the pick-my-brain session.

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

***Let's start with an announcement for June***

I’m working on something kiinda big for you! I’m going to create an audio course for solopreneurs who have trouble sticking to their plans, or following through on the impactful tasks and projects that they know would propel their business forwards. Or, who want to spend more time outside of their work but have trouble sticking to those plans, too.

So because this course will be a time-consuming project, I decided to not create new podcast episodes while I'm working on it. Instead I’ll republish three episodes that have aired in the first season of this podcast (when it was still called Make Your Day.)

I’m calling these episodes Summer Refires. In pottery, you may want to "refire" your piece sometimes because a glaze didn’t turn out quite right the first time around in the kiln, or when you simply want to create some deeper glaze layers on your piece. And that’s exactly what I want to do with these episodes I’m refiring – I want to bring another layer to them by adding some comments to the episodes. I also think that arranging these three episodes together gives them more depth.

***The 2nd thing I wanted to talk about is a summer giveaway***

You can win a one-hour pick-my-brain session with me. You can ask me aaaanything when it comes to your productivity, schedule, work-life balance – anything within the realm of things I usually talk about here on the podcast – and get personalized advice.

There are two ways you can enter the giveaway:

1. Share about the podcast with a friend or on your social media, and either send a screenshot of the share to my email [email protected] or DMs, or share about in IG story and tag me @thejennahellberg so that I can see. (If your account is private I may not see the story; in this case, send a screenshot of it to my DMs)

2. Write a review about Building Balance on Apple podcasts, and send me a screenshot of the review. If you don't have access to Apple podcasts, you could leave me/the podcast a note here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

If you do both, you get two draft spots in the giveaway.

Out of everyone who shares and/or reviews within the month of June 2022, I’ll pick a winner on July 1st and get in touch with them (hopefully you!) by July 5th  to schedule the pick-my-brain session.

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Have you thought about how saying NO could benefit your business, and through that, you? I asked Petchy come walk us through that in this week's episode.

What we talked about:

- how saying NO more benefits your business and brand

- what kinds of things you could say NO to

- 3 tips that make it easier to say NO without feeling crappy about it

Solveig Petch [aka Petchy] is a brand strategist and identity designer who helps purpose-driven business owners build brands their own way; without compromising their integrity or practicing unethical business tactics. Her home office is in rural Norway, but she works with businesses all over the world. She helps business owners discover and define their brands’ unique purpose and personality, find the confidence to own their stuff — and tap into their uniqueness to attract more of the clients they can’t wait to work with.

Petchy's website: https://petchy.co/

Petchy's branding checklist: https://petchy.co/checklist/

Brand it! with Petchy podcast: https://petchy.co/podcast/

My guest episode on Petchy's podcast: https://petchy.co/shownotes/058/

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Want to leave me a note? You can do that here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

A business coach can help you grow and evolve your small business, so you can move closer to the life and success you’d like to experience. A great coach can help you focus on your strengths while identifying areas in your business that could be shifted to see progress.

Whether you’re looking to update a thing or two about your business, or you’re looking for someone to team up with long-term, I'm sharing 6 things that I believe are important to keep in mind as you’re choosing a business coach.

Above everything else, I hope that after this episode you’ll be thinking about what it is that you want out of coaching, so that when the time comes, you’re better equipped to find someone who’s gonna be a great fit for you.

And if you feel like you’re spending too much time on too many things in your business, and you want to free up time for more revenue-generating work or to build more balance into your life without sacrificing your revenue, I’d love to work with you to sort it out.

Blog post version: https://jennahellberg.com/blog/consider-when-choosing-small-business-coach

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Want to leave me a note? You can do that here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

Mini series part 7: What if you could cut the time that you’re currently spending on marketing and admin tasks in half, so that you could spend more time on your paid client work, on your dreamy business updates, or just free that up for your life outside of work?

During the past 6 episodes, I’ve been diving into what productivity actually looks like for business owners and how we can keep growing our businesses without having to resort to hustle and overwork.

But I know that it can feel really hard to trust that it’s possible to work less and to simplify, or even to let go of some tasks. It can feel like that would be the opposite of being productive, and that it would affect your income and your progress in a negative way.

So I asked Jenny to come on the podcast with me to talk about her experience. She’s an architectural designer based in Cape Town, South Africa. We teamed up to simplify and streamline some of the things in her business that were taking up more time and energy than she’d like them to, because she needed to spend more time on invoicable client work *plus* she wanted to get her weekends back.

It’s been about 6 months since she did an intensive with me, and I was excited to get to chat to her about what’s going on and what changes she’s made since we worked together. I hope that you’ll also walk away with some helpful nuggets from her process.

We covered:

– why Jenny needed to shift from a 6-day workweek to a 5-day one

– the desire to reduce her work hours while still increasing her income

– the three simple shifts she made to her most time-consuming marketing and admin tasks to make this plan a reality

– whether or not these three shifts felt doable, and were they enough?

– how these shifts have impacted other things in her business and life

– realizing that there's always a different way to approach work, even when it doesn't feel like it

– seeing that running a business without hustle and feeling balanced is possible

Snow notes: https://jennahellberg.com/podcast/059-reduce-busy-work-as-small-business-owner

Jenny's website: https://redcatdesign.co.za

Jenny's IG: https://www.instagram.com/redcatdesignct

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Want to leave me a note? You can do that here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

Mini series part 6.

The tricky part with productivity, or not being productive, is that we often think that we just don’t have enough willpower to do the things, so we think we need to push harder. But usually that's not a solution that's sustainable.

Feeling like you have to push yourself a ton (but you just can’t push yourself enough to get eeeverything done), that’s a sign that your productivity ecosystem is off-balance.

Let’s talk about what that might look like and what you can do to strengthen the parts that could use some work.

Episode mentioned 053: https://jennahellberg.com/episodes/053-need-to-grow-your-business-but-your-schedule-is-already-stuffed

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Want to leave me a note? You can do that here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

Solo business mini series part 5 – introducing the Productivity Ecosystem!

In the past few episodes I’ve talked about why things tend to get complicated in solo businesses, how focusing on your most impactful tasks help us make faster progress in our businesses without hustle, and why it’s challenging to prioritize our most impactful tasks.

So today I want to talk about how you can make it easier to be more productive, aka prioritize impactful activities and projects that you feel would make a difference for you or your business.

Last summer, I realized that there are three important parts of the Finnish lifestyle that support productivity and work-life balance, and I’ve just recently had some new epiphanies around it – so even if you’ve heard me talk about these before, I hope you’ll listen to this one because I’ve developed it a good bit and I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code on the SISU part of this framework.

Based on my Finnish upbringing, my experience as a business owner, and my training as a psychologist, I’ve developed a three-part Productivity Ecosystem that supports your productivity and helps you keep showing up long-term for your business without hustle.

Written version of this episode: https://jennahellberg.com/blog/increase-productivity-solo-business-owner

Episode 055: https://jennahellberg.com/episodes/055-make-faster-progress-solo-business

5 activities that are impactful for business owners blog post: https://jennahellberg.com/blog/grow-solo-business-faster-without-hustle-burnout

Why it's hard to focus on impactful tasks (aka your brain on the Eisenhower Matrix) blog post: https://jennahellberg.com/blog/focus-important-tasks-project-small-business

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Want to leave me a note? You can do that here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

Solo business mini series part 4.

You may have heard of the Eisenhower Matrix about 170 times before, because it’s a tool that many have found helpful for prioritizing their most important work and working more effectively.

Episode mentioned: 057 https://jennahellberg.com/episodes/057-increase-productivity-as-small-business-owner

Blog post version of the previous episode: https://jennahellberg.com/blog/grow-solo-business-faster-without-hustle-burnout

Blog post version of this episode: https://jennahellberg.com/blog/focus-important-tasks-project-small-business

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Want to leave me a note? You can do that here: https://jennahellberg.com/note

Solo business mini series part 3.

I’m just gonna give it away in this very first sentence; the one key shift that helps you make faster progress is to spend your time on tasks and activities that make the biggest impact.

There are five types of activities that I see as the most crucial ones that make an impact for small business owners, which I'll dive into in this episode.

Episode mentioned:

Episode 049: https://jennahellberg.com/episodes/049-frustrations-of-a-business-owner-results-dont-match-efforts

Episode 045: https://jennahellberg.com/episodes/045-productivity-for-entrepreneurs-and-creatives

Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg

Find mentioned/current resources here: https://jennahellberg.com/resources

Check out my services: https://jennahellberg.com

Want to leave me a note? You can do that here: https://jennahellberg.com/note